I thank members for their questions. I am delighted Senator Norris likes my country. I like it too and I hope that I will see the Senator there sometime.
Senator Norris posed three important questions, one of which was also put by Senator Walsh. On the Sahel and the situation there, I was in Chad and Niger just two weeks ago and my opinion is that the situation is deteriorating rapidly because of the combined impact of three factors. The first of these is drought, which is not unusual for this region. However, this time it is hitting parts of the five countries of the Sahel in this area very severely. In one of the areas I visited in Chad, this year's harvest is only 5% of what it was last year. I see what is happening as related to climate change. The rains still come, but instead of six weeks of continuous rain, the same amount of rain falls in a day or day and a half. This creates tremendous soil degradation and does not allow what has been planted to grow. On top of this, are the returnees from Libya. These 300,000 migrant workers coming into the region used to be a source of income, but now only make more mouths to feed. The third factor is that together with the returnees from Libya, arms are coming into the region. This results in increased activity creating security risks in Mali and northern Nigeria. The President of Chad told me that the situation in northern Nigeria caught them unprepared and that nobody expected the violence that took place there. All of this is pushing food prices up by between 30% and 60% and driving the most vulnerable families into a big crisis. The European Commission was the first body to stand up and say, "A crisis is coming, now is the time to act, let's not wait". Some people said we should wait until March but it would be too late by then.
The international community is now united on the need for action. I called Valerie Amos of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Josette Sheeran of the World Food Programme to arrange a meeting that took place in Rome last week. It was very significant because it brought Helen Clark of the United Nations Development Programme, Valerie Amos, the three Rome-based agencies and the main donors - the US, the Commission and the EU member states - together. I am optimistic that early action will allow us to prevent the danger of an explosion in the problems in the Sahel, which would affect up to 12 million people, including 1 million children. Our assistance particularly targets the most vulnerable sectors of the population, including children under the age of five, pregnant and nursing women, handicapped people and elderly people.
The issue of population growth, which has been raised, is very dear to my heart. When I travel to the poorest and most vulnerable countries in my capacity as European Commissioner for International Co-operation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, I find that population growth of 3% or more is the one thing they all have in common. We have to be respectful and culturally sensitive when we consider this issue. We should reflect on how these countries can cope in the absence of support for health services and education for girls. We know that such services help to reduce population growth.
I will tell the committee an interesting story. When I was going to Addis Ababa for a conference on the Horn of Africa crisis, I was told not to talk about population growth because it is not culturally appropriate. My speaking notes referred to issues like climate change and population growth. When I was travelling to the region, I learned something that shook me up. In 1960, my country - Bulgaria - and Kenya were next to each other in the population table. Kenya had 8.1 million people and Bulgaria had 7.9 million people. Today, Kenya has 40 million people and Bulgaria has 7.5 million people. We have a demographic problem of a different nature. When I saw that, I could not imagine what my country would look like if 40 million people were living in it. When I reached the section of my speech at the conference about population growth, on the spur of the moment I decided to mention what I had discovered. I was applauded when I said it was a very serious problem. African leaders contacted me afterwards to thank me for raising this issue and to say it is important for them.
When I went to Niger, where we have programmes that support family planning, I met an imam who told me about a verse in the Koran that says there should be space between the birth of children. I did not know that. I do not know how this applies to Irish twins. The reason for this approach is to allow the children and the mother to be strong and healthy. There is more room than we might think to discuss these issues in a way that is culturally sensitive and respectful. When I attended a dinner with the prime minister and his cabinet, we had the normal slow low-energy dinner discussion until somebody raised the issue of population. All of a sudden, everybody got very animated about the discussion. We have a role to play in this regard, but we must do so respectfully.
As these countries grow, people will definitely have fewer children. However, good health interventions mean children are getting help and life expectancy is increasing. This is a real problem for ecologically fragile countries like Niger, Mauritania, Mali and Ethiopia. It is important. I assure Senator Walsh that we are taking the Horn of Africa equally seriously. I mentioned Somalia when I spoke about the Sahel. I should have referred to the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, particularly Somalia. We are putting together a large programme of resilience in the Horn of Africa. It will help these countries to transform their economies and be in a better position to resist drought in the future.
I do not know much about what Senator Norris said about Roma children in Kosovo. I will come back to him and give him more information.
Deputy Durkan asked about the degree to which we engage in humanitarian work. As the Chairman said, some 40% of humanitarian action is taken by Europeans. The European Commission is responsible for approximately 25% of such action. I can inform Senator Walsh that we spent €1.1 billion on humanitarian activities last year. It is a sizeable sum. Between $8 billion and $14 billion or $15 billion is spent on humanitarian activities by the world's Governments - the public sector - in any given year. It depends on how terrible the year is. Our emergency reserve allows us to increase our expenditure from €800 million to €1.1 billion in a difficult year. As a result, we are predictable and very respected. The work we do prioritises those areas of biggest risk and most significant need.
Senator Walsh asked whether we use the money where it should be used. Europe absolutely does that. Certain Governments, under the pressure of the public, sometimes jump to the humanitarian aid instrument as the one thing they can use even though the problem might be a human rights issue or a political crisis. The current crisis in Syria is a good example. Those of us who are involved on the humanitarian side act when there is clear evidence of a humanitarian emergency. We made an emergency decision on Syria on 3 February last. We did not do that because politicians are talking about Syria but because people are dying or being displaced. Many wounded people cannot get treatment. There is a risk of a refugee crisis in neighbouring countries.
We always stick to a principle of neutrality, impartiality and independence. That is the consensus in Europe. I emphasise that we have to hold onto this consensus. We should not allow Europe to sleepwalk into the politicising of aid. If we were to do so, we would undermine our capacity to help people. Why are we blind to the side of the conflict that relates to ethnicity, religion or skin colour? When we are blind, we have access - we are allowed to go and help. If we take sides, we cannot help. In addition, if we politicise it and if it is perceived to aim for a political gain, then others will do it. The Chinese, the Indians and everybody will do it and the result will be that space for humanity will quickly shrink. I can assure members we take that very seriously. During Ireland's Presidency of the EU, we might find a way to reinforce this commitment to neutrality, impartiality and independence.
On the question of disasters, the emotional response and how we ensure we stay with the problem, this is really difficult. Unfortunately, it is one of the problems on which we all need to join forces to address. When a disaster is reported on the 6 o'clock news, raising money is no problem but how do we raise money so that it is not on the 6 o'clock news because we have taken pre-emptive action? This is where donors like Ireland which have a national experience of a tragedy which made the society more responsive to the needs of others can be very helpful in terms of this resilience topic. During the Irish Presidency of the EU, linking resilience and malnutrition could be a very good theme. I will talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Joe Costello, about it shortly.
I think I responded to the point on budget conditionality and addressed the issues in the Horn of Africa. On the Bosnian issue, I can only speak as somebody who comes from the region and say that stability in this region matters to Europe but I will pass on the question to my colleagues. My take is that we want all the Balkan countries to eventually be part of the European Union. Bulgaria's accession to the European Union put an end to a very real risk, namely, crime, contract killings and the Russian mafia being at the doorstep of Europe. Now that is history; that will never be a risk. We need to expand that type of membership further but today is not the day to talk about expanding the European Union.
